Paleo

Recipes & Cooking

Running

Harvest Smoothie (Or What to do with Leftover Pumpkin Puree)

It’s been overcast for the past few days here in LA, which means that I get to pretend that it’s fall. In that spirit, I made these wonderful pumpkin bars from Elana’s Pantry yesterday, and as is usual with pumpkin-based baking projects, I now find myself with leftover pumpkin puree in the fridge. Luckily, I have the perfect solution for the problem—pumpkin smoothies.

Pumpkin is fairly low in calories and carbs and packs a healthy dose of iron and vitamins A and C, which makes this a great post-workout snack.

Ingredients:

½ cup pumpkin puree

1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder

6 oz. coconut milk

3 drops liquid vanilla stevia

¼ cup yogurt

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. nutmeg

Pinch of cloves

¼ tsp. fresh ginger

Add all items to blender and pulse until combined.

Substitutions and variations: I’ve made this with a teaspoon or two of honey instead of stevia if I need to replenish more carbs. I’ve also used a couple of frozen peach slices to sweeten it up a bit without affecting the pumpkin flavor much. The fresh ginger really gives it a great warmth if you have it on hand. If not, powdered ginger will do the trick.